They should be as high as possible, not to be shot down when they cross into 'expensive internet for everyone' regimes:)

Looking at the price of internet with the many undersea cables in country X, is it possible for a tax hungry gov X  to allow such? 

Is it possible to drive policy towards free reliable internet connection?

_______________________________________________________________
We must Keep on, We can't stop here
   
 

On Fri, Jul 22, 2016 at 2:38 PM, Tony White via skunkworks <skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke> wrote:
Many apologies!!! - I should do research before opening my stupid mouth ;)

It seems the current record for propeller driven aircraft,
solar-electric aircraft, and highest altitude in horizontal flight by
a winged aircraft is 96,863 ft (29,524 m), set by NASA Helios HP01 on
August 14th, 2001

Oops ;)

Tony


On 22/07/2016, Tony White <tony.mzungu@gmail.com> wrote:
> I agree that 60,000 feet asl is above the normal air lanes, but I see
> that it is driven by 4 propellers, and the air is pretty thin up there
> - I have doubts they will manage to achieve that altitude.  Also,
> there is the weather phenomenon known as the 'jetstream' - which would
> sweep a lightweight airframe hundreds of kilometres off-station.
>
> Nice idea.  Lots of publicity value. I don't see it happening anytime soon
> :(
>
> Cheers,
> Tony
>
>
> On 22/07/2016, Haggai Nyang <haggai.nyang@gmail.com> wrote:
>> 60,000 feet is more than the service ceiling of most commercial
>> airliners.
>>
>> Boeing 777 for example has a service ceiling of about 43,000ft ~ 13km.
>>
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Jul 22, 2016 at 6:23 AM, Tony White via skunkworks <
>> skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke> wrote:
>>
>>> Will they not become a hazard for commercial airliners?  A
>>> quick-and-dirty calculation for Kenya shows that we would have about
>>> 120 of these buzzing around overhead, each covering an area of about
>>> 5000 square kilometres.  I wonder what KCAA will have to say about
>>> this ;)
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> Tony
>>>
>>>
>>> On 21/07/2016, Mwendwa Kivuva via skunkworks <skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke>
>>> wrote:
>>> > I would want to hear what Ms Ebele, the Head of Public Policy for
>>> > Africa
>>> at
>>> > FB, has to say on plans for the marginalised.
>>> >
>>> > It's beautiful, and audacious too. Aquila is a solar-powered airplane
>>> that
>>> > can be used to bring affordable internet to hundreds of millions of
>>> people
>>> > in the hardest-to-reach places. When complete, Aquila will be able to
>>> > circle a region up to 60 miles in diameter, beaming connectivity down
>>> from
>>> > an altitude of more than 60,000 feet using laser communications and
>>> > millimeter wave systems. Aquila is designed to be hyper efficient, so
>>> > it
>>> > can fly for up to three months at a time. The aircraft has the
>>> > wingspan
>>> of
>>> > an airliner, but at cruising speed it will consume only 5,000 watts —
>>> > the
>>> > same amount as three hair dryers, or a high-end microwave.
>>> >
>>> > See the Youtube video: https://youtu.be/eOez_Hk80TI
>>> >
>>> > Regards
>>> > ______________________
>>> > Mwendwa Kivuva, Nairobi, Kenya
>>> > twitter.com/lordmwesh
>>> >
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Tony White
>>>
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>>
>
>
> --
> Tony White
>


--
Tony White

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